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Through the first six innings of their
non-conference baseball game on Thursday afternoon, the
Cerritos College baseball team appeared to be in a tight
game against Victor Valley College. But the Falcons took
advantage of four Ram errors in the seventh inning that
led to four runs, while the team tacked on another four
runs in the eighth inning and posted a 14-3 victory. The
win was the fifth in a row for Cerritos (6-1), while
Victor Valley dropped to 0-4-1. The Falcons will play
their fourth home game in the last seven days on Friday
when they host Irvine Valley College at 2:00 p.m. on
Friday.
Cerritos had
just broken a 2-2 tie in the bottom of the fifth
inning when freshman designated hitter AJ
Rodriguez (Gahr HS) singled home
sophomore first baseman Trever Blood (La
Mirada HS) and sophomore shortstop Jerry Pena
(Los Altos HS) off starting pitcher Daniel
Williamson. The runners were in scoring position
after a nice sacrifice bunt by freshman third
baseman Chad Ostahowski (Lake Elsinore HS).
Blood accounted for the first two runs for the
Falcons with his second home run of the year in the
third inning.
In the
game-breaking seventh inning, Blood reached base on
a throwing error by shortstop Blane Lloyd with one
out. After Pena drew a walk, Ostahowski saw his slow
roller to third baseman Alan Brace thrown away,
which allowed both runners to score, with Ostahowski
ending up on third base. A pitching change led to a
wild pitch, which allowed the third run of the
inning to score. Freshman pinch-hitter David Neff
(John Glenn HS) drew a walk, which resulted
in another run after freshman outfielder Pat
Radford (Long Beach Wilson HS) was
awarded an infield single before a throwing error by
pitcher David Barrett allowed Neff to score.
Cerritos
scored their next four runs in a more conventional
manner, as freshman second baseman Brandon
Pesante (La Mirada HS) led off by being
hit by a pitch, stole second base and came home on
an RBI single by Ostahowski. Pena, who drew a walk
before the RBI hit, scored ahead of Ostahowski when
Rodriguez drilled a two-run triple to the deepest
part of the field.
Lost in the
big win was the pitching performance of freshman
Tony Peraza (La Mirada HS), who threw the
first five innings and struck out eight while
allowed two runs on three hits. He did walk two
batters and hit three more, but he was able to shut
down the Rams when they had runners in scoring
position. Freshman Doug Wogee (Sonora HS)
saw his first action on the mound this season and
pitched three innings while allowing four hits and
struck out two.
Rodriguez
finished the day going 3-for-4 with four RBI, while
Ostahowski, Pena and Radford all had two hits. |
